Monday, May 7, 2012

I love my green garlic patch! It produces lots of food with almost no work!!

Plant garlic cloves in an ordinary garden bed in the fall. After a cozy winter sleep greens will emerge in the spring.

These greens can be used like scallions as well as in sauteed meals and even fermented.

When the greens become too coarse to chew they can be harvested and frozen for future soupstocks and bean pots.

Greens ready for freezer

Greens & roots ready for freezer

Chopped, coarse greens in a bean pot.

At a certain point in their growing cycle the stalks get thick and are excellent chopped and sauteed. Like the greens, they are excellent fermented!

A few weeks later come the loopy "scapes" also known as flower stalks. These also make an excellent saute and an equally excellent ferment.

Each element of the green garlic plant has a peak season before the leaves, stalks or scapes become too tough to chew. With practice and taste testing you will get the feel of when to harvest for eating and fermenting and when to harvest for freezing for soups and bean pots.

As your green garlic patch gets bigger, harvest entire plants to keep it to the size you want.

About Me

I am a musician, organic gardener and improvisational cook. Following the birth of my child, I developed many symptoms and deep exhaustion. It took a decade and a half to recover using alternative treatments, diet change, and fermented foods. Out of this healing experience I developed cook books to share what worked for me. I recently opened a commercial kitchen to sell Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread products. I am always learning.